madman - where do ideas come from?

I have a thing about shoes, sports shoes that is. Not as Carrie and her Manolos, mine is more of a cultural interest, if you will (or at least that's how I keep fooling myself). I bought this book a while ago, and I found in it this wonderful example of "where do ideas come from". This is Nike's Air Barkley Max. Well, Charles Barkley, besides being one of NBA's greatest characters, was also known as a very rough player, and some called him the Madman. So Nike designers came up with this shoe, full of straps. They went for what they called "a psychiatric ward look, a reinforced, metal-bracked lace locking-system". The inspiration? A straitjacket. Brilliant!